


I ain't a stuffy!

by hollydermovoi



Category: Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Ridiculousness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-07
Updated: 2015-07-30
Packaged: 2018-02-12 04:14:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 1,965
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2095365
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hollydermovoi/pseuds/hollydermovoi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rocket has... problems showing affection.</p><p>Shut <i>up</i> Groot.</p><p>4 times Rocket cuddled with a guardian, and 1 time they all cuddled</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Peter Quill

**Author's Note:**

> Blame Shane.
> 
> And herpderpdoctor
> 
> damn you both

Rocket was _not_ a cuddler.

He _wasn’t_ and _fuck you Quill_ for ever fucking implying that he was.

“I am Groot!” squeaked Groot knowingly.

_Damnit_

*

The first person he approached was Quill.

Don’t get it wrong, he still hated humans on principle, but he remembered Quill’s cautious approach in the prison and bar, and could just _imagine_ how gentle his scritches would be.

"Stop _smirking_ you planty _bastard_." he snapped at Groot, whose pot he carried with him. Groot simply smiled benignly and began to sway gently, crooning  "Groooooooooooooooot.". His lips curled into a snarl, but he made sure the pot didn't jostle too much as he stomped to Quill's quarters.

He'd already fucking lost Groot once. He would _not_ fucking lose him like that again.

Well.

Not unless he went too.

Anyway, he stood in front of Quill's door, determination suddenly gone. 

"I am Groot?"

"Yeah, yeah, I _know_ you fucking twig!" he snarled. _This was such a stupid fucking mistake._

"Well that was rude," came Quill's affronted voice, and Rocket just managed not to flinch. Quill was more or less the absolute opposite of stealthy unless it suited him to be otherwise, and today, apparently, it suited him to be.

"Yeah well, _you_ try dealin' with withdrawals with a fuckin' sentient _twig_ and see how much it does for _you_ and _then_ you can fucking talk."

Almost instantly, the teasing look on Quill's face melted into concern."Whatcha hooked on? I'm sure _someone_ has something that comes close? I have gummy worms? Gamora has those fizzy-" 

"Poisonous" 

"Tarts- wait poison? Oh that explains a _lot_. Um, Drax has-"

"I ain't hooked on _gummy worms_ or poison or _whatever Drax has_. I'm hooked on _cuddles_ you fucking moron!"

"...Come again?"

" _Cuddles_ you waste of oxygen," growled Rocket, almost seething at Quill's sheer stupidity. "I usually hug Groot, but I _can't_ because he _died_ a couple days ago, and now he's a _twig_."

Quill blinked at him, gears in his little head tick tick ticking away and wasn't that just _peachy_. "Well then..." he said slowly. "Come on in and we'll see what we can work out."

Turns out that Quill was more than happy to have Rocket curl up on his pillow, fangs right near the jugular in case he got any fucking _ideas_ about snuggling Rocket like he was some sort of _toy_. Well, maybe "happy" wasn't the right adjective in _Quill's_ mind, and that's all that mattered to Rocket aside from the fact that Peter "Stardust" Quill was a good alternate to Groot's earthy embraces.

"StarLORD."

Yeah, what fucking ever.


	2. Drax the Destroyer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> WARNING FOR ANGST
> 
> for herpderpdoctor, who made me happy. may your ginger soul be happy with this flame nugget.
> 
> and believe me, i've had what quill has. and yes. it can get this bad.

Sleeping next to Quill worked like a fucking charm.

And then the asshole had to go and get sick.

 _Really_ sick.

So sick in fact, that they almost tore the ship apart trying to get to Terran because Quill _wasn't breathing._

Rocket hadn't thought _anyone_ that wasn't Groot could make him feel this way. Fucking _helpless_ and broken hearted.

Apparently, Quill was yet again an exception.

And wasn't _that_ just fucking _fantastic._

Anyway, they get to Terran, where Quill manages to wheeze to the nurse that they were at a Sci-Fi convention, whatever the _fuck_ that means, and her wide eyed stare quickly turned almost bemused. She tells Drax that his "makeup is very well done," and that his little raccoon is "so realistic it's almost scary." Rocket almost growls at her, but remembers that they need her to be at ease so that she'll treat Quill and not ask any questions. _He wasn't some **toy**_. Drax, being Drax, simply blinked at the nurse affectionately and informed her that it was not makeup, it was tattoos, and that Rocket was a _person_ , so of _course_ he was realistic. The nurse patted his arm in a condescending manner and then went right back to saving Quill's fucking _life._

Because as it turns out, not only is Quill having a problem with the whole _breathing_ thing, but they won't let them in to see him. Something about preventing contamination, like they weren't fucking living together. Drax had actually pointed that out, but a different nurse than Bambi eyes had explained gently that having them near could stress Quill out, which would _not_ help his lungs. They'd reluctantly agreed, because Quill was a fucking _moron_ and kept trying to struggle every time he laid eyes on one of them. They _had_ managed to get Groot in with him, partially because he was a twig, and the nurses said that plants were harmless, and partially because Groot exuded a calm atmosphere unless threatened.

Plus they weren't gonna leave Quill _alone_. He might be a moron, but he was still _family._

Incompetent, plague-ridden, moronic family.

And the stupid fucker couldn't cuddle with Rocket anymore. That was the worst part. And Rocket felt like such an _asshole_ for having thought it. Quill had almost _died_ and here he was, still being a selfish son of a _Procyon Ioter._ So he sat still (though he didn't want to) and he didn't claw at anyone's face (like he wanted to) and tried to calculate which of the two reckless idiots would get better, Groot or Quill.

Unfortunately, he didn't have enough data to run the equations, so all he ended up with was nothing. A whole lot of nothing for a lot of _fucking_ suffering.

He didn't even notice that Drax's huge, yet oddly dexterous fingers combing through his fur. It wasn't until blunt nails scritched behind his ears that he noticed he was being _petted_. He waited for the homicidal rage to start boiling in his chest, but it never came.

Huh.

Guess Quill and Groot _weren't_ the only ones he considered _his_. He wasn't quite sure that this revelation was _good_ , but it wasn't fucking _bad_. He'd just have to wait until one of his two morons was better again. In the mean time, Drax would have to do. So occupied with this newfound _trust_ in a far too literal, baffingly incompetent being for one known as the Destroyer, he failed to notice that Gamora's steady gaze _wasn't_ fixed on the door Quill had been wheeled through. 

It was fixed on _him._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> DUN DUN DUUUUUUN.
> 
> Thank you everyone who has commented, left kudos, subscribed and favorited!
> 
> Can you guess what Quill has? I know, it's kinda vague, but whatevs.
> 
> Shane, no guessing, and no telling flame nugget. That would be cheating
> 
> Edit: not asthma, not anaphylaxis. Starts with a B. And it has been guessed! Answer will be revealed with the next chapter


	3. Gamora

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IT WAS BRONCHITIS! CONGRATS TO THE PEEPS THAT GUESSED CORRECTLY.

They sat there for almost twelve hours before Rocket felt his muscles start to twitch. He was used to (relative) stillness, but this much inactivity and the stress were really getting to him. He was about to say screw it and lunge past the nurses to where he'd seen them take Quill just _cause_ when Gamora stood up without any morning.

"Drax," she said, and nodded towards him with a significantly raised eyebrow, "I'm gonna take Rocket for a walk."

You could ask him later, after Quill was better(ish), and they were back on the Milano where life made some fucking _sense_ , how it came to pass exactly, him and Gamora making the rounds in the children ward. But he didn't really _know_. All he knew was he looked at the tiny, sick, furless children and bared his teeth at the thought of a smaller Quill about this size being dragged in with _Ravagers_ of all fucking things, and that Gamora's hands were as gentle as Quill's, as slim as Groot's and as strong as Drax's.

No words were exchanged between them, but he felt that a certain tension, one he hadn't really noticed, as gone now.

Might as well consider that a good fucking thing, he supposed.

*BONUS*

They wheeled Quill in his chair towards the Milano about two weeks later. His skin was still pretty pale, he was cocooned in blankets and his breathing still wasn't exactly right, but it was such a vast improvement that Rocket almost fucking cried.

Best of all, Quill's damn swagger was back.

"I'm telling you guys, I'm almost better! Soon I'll be fucking around like I was before, you'll see!" He declared, somewhat wheezily yes, but he did manage to declare it.

"I am Groot." agreed Groot with a knowing nod.

"What do ya _mean_ 'Of course you feel better, ya don't have a tube down your throat'?" Rocket growled. 

There was a pause, and for a second, Peter Quill wondered if perhaps his friends would kill him where the mysterious Terran disease hadn't. (A nurse had _tried_ to explain, but he'd been too busy trying to breath to pay much attention.) But then Gamora reached forward and pinched his ear, which _hurt_ , but wasn't likely to _kill_ him.

"You will _not_ do this again, Peter Quill." she said softly, and Quill grinned, cheeks flushing a little. 

"I'll do my best." he promised, and the Guardians continued on their way.


	4. Groot

Groot was Groot, and that was all he'd wanted to fucking say about their relationship to the other Guardians.

Once, he _never_ would've fucking told them about how after the _things_ who'd done what they did to make him what he was, they'd shocked him and left him in the trash like some _animal_. He _never_ would've explained how when Groot had first lifted him out of the heap, crooning softly with that ridiculous fucking grin, he'd fought as viciously as he could with everything he had, which admittedly hadn't been much. Instead of hurting him, Groot had produced flowers and glowing spores for his comfort and entertainment.

That had meant the fucking _world_ to Rocket, and the feeling of love and commitment towards the being that saved him couldn't be captured in fucking _words_.

Luckily though, the other Guardians didn't demand them. They didn't have to. The Infinity Stone had given them a _connection_ of sorts, one that only occassionally made any sense, but it _did_ mean that Rocket's feelings about Groot's hugs never had to be explained. 

And Rocket was fucking grateful for it.


	5. And one time they all cuddled

It takes more than a little fucking coincidence for the team to end up snuggled together.

In no particular order:  
-They had to have been in a fight. Not a big one, or a small one, but a perfect sized one where they all worked fucking hard to win, but none of them got hurt. Simply deeply, deeply exhausted.  
-Actually as a sub point to this, no one is sick, injured, shrunken or in any other odd predicaments 

-They had to be staying at Nova Corp and not on the Milano. This is important because the fact that they're in relatively unfamiliar territory is a leading contributor in why they choose to snuggle together.

-Some _idiot_ has to mention that Gamora deserves to die for her past. They don't exactly take it well. In fact, after Drax's boot is successfully removed off of the man's face, he tecnically _starts_ the snuggle by refusing to let Gamora leave his arms. Literally, of fucking course. 

Rocket sort of was the secondary starter to the snuggle pile, but if anyone so much as hinted at that being a thing that had actually happened he would claw their fucking face off, just try it and see if he didn't. When Drax had gathered Gamora to his chest protectively, Rocket hadn't been able to prevent himself from being a bit jealous.

He could admit it. He was always a slut for cuddles.

This is what lead him to sneaking out of his too loud, too quiet and too big room and curling up on Gamora's legs.

What? She needed more than just Drax to guard her from the fucking morons that made up Nova Corp, right?

Of course when he woke up the next morning with Groot's hand on his head, Peter's hand on his tail and Drax's hand on his back, he wasn't overly surprised. Exasperated, but unsurprised. 

After all, he wasn't no damn stuffie but he _was_ part of a family now.

And family was allowed to fucking cuddle if they want to.


End file.
